My Closing Message

Friends,

Thank you for all the time we’ve spent together over the last couple of months. We have suffered a terrible loss. Our country is in trouble. But each of you represents what is best about the Democratic Party. You give of yourselves because you believe in our Republic.

But the urgent question now at hand is this — do we have the courage to change our Party so we can win the next elections to save our country. I believe we do, but I need your support and I need your help. Sixteen years ago we won an historic election but have allowed our national party to be stripped for parts ever since. Over the past few election cycles, trust in our party has eroded to the point that the hardest working Americans no longer feel as though we are the party that has their back.

The change that we need to win is not going to be achieved by tinkering around the edges. We need to reimagine the entire proposition of the DNC. We must first reclaim our Party’s mission and purpose, namely, the Party that fights for the economic security, health and well-being of every man, woman, and child in America.

We must quickly stand up an Information War Room at the DNC to up our game in digital communications and rapid response so we can fight back against disinformation and mis-information online and in communities across our country.

We must recruit candidates to run all across the ballot — from the courthouse, to city hall, from the state house to halls of Congress so that people in every state and every district are given a Democratic alternative.

And we must communicate every day to the hardest working people in America that the choices Donald Trump is making are hurting their family’s ability to pay their bills and put food on the table.

But the speed with which Trump and Republicans are dismantling life as we know it is designed to keep everyone off balance. So, leading this change will require a battle-tested national spokesperson for our party.

A leader who clearly, plainly, and constantly lay-out for voters what Democrats are doing for them and what Republicans are doing to them. I just went toe-to-toe with Nancy Mace and Marjorie Taylor Greene, and I’m just getting started. As a City Councilor, Mayor and Governor, there is nothing that Republicans can say to me that I haven’t heard before, and I will be ready to take the fight to them on day one.

Rebuilding trust in our party won’t be solved by insider knowledge about unimaginative and uninspiring party mechanics.  Nor should we allow our Party to be bought and paid for by a few billionaires.  What we need is a new leader with a proven track record of turning big organizations around at every level — city, state, and national.  It will require a collaborative leader who can the power of openness and transparency to rebuild trust.

I am that leader.

We know what the challenges are. We know what the stakes are.

Knowing that these are the changes we need to win again, ask yourself which of us has the ability to step up to lead us forward on day one. America needs a strong Democratic Party now more than ever. So let’s change our Party so we can save our country.

I ask for your vote.

Martin O’Malley